Descent into Madness
by Mystikwriter
Summary: Spirit has something to say, and Stein struggles to understand the message that lurks behind warm green eyes. Can be considered pre-slash.


While watching Soul Eater I was fascinated by the relationship between Spirit and Stein. This was written late one night after one too many Soul Eater episodes.

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Descent into Madness

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Anyone else would have missed the minute displacement in the air as the door behind him swung open on silent hinges. The intruder was skilled, their footsteps ghost silent as they entered the room. With any other the silence would have warded them from discovery, but Stein was canny enough to recognize the unnatural silence of something trying to hide.

After five years of Resonance, it was impossible to miss him.

"You've been acting funny lately."

Long fingers froze, poised over the keyboard. The silence reigned for the length of a heartbeat, resonating between the two men before the clicking resumed. Pale lips curved, the smoldering tip of a cigarette dipping with the motion. "Is that so?"

The door clicked shut behind Spirit, the Death Scythe moving to lean against the far wall, hands shoved in his pockets. "Did you think I wouldn't notice? I was your partner, you know."

"Hard to forget considering you were my favorite test subject." Stein's gaze flicked beyond the glowing computer screen and widened before darting away. His shoulders grew tight, his fingers flying across the keyboard as he sought to ignore the oily rainbows that danced on the edge of his vision.

Spirit sighed, a low sound devoid of his usual energy. "You sure showed me. It took me ages before I was comfortable enough to sleep next to Kami."

Silence descended once more, heavy with words unspoken. The staccato rhythm of Stein's typing fell with the force of a death knell, each click splitting and cracking the air around them.

"Are you going to tell me what's going on?"

Stein's fingers paused once more, and with an inaudible sigh he stood, his coat swishing around his legs. He spun and neatly dropped back onto his chair, his chin coming to rest on his folded arms. "Are you worried about me Spirit? I'm touched."

"You may have tortured me in my sleep, Stein," Spirit said with a wry smirk, the rest of his face cloaked by shadow. "But that doesn't mean we're not friends."

Stein couldn't stop the answering smile that stretched across his mouth. Even weighted down by the dark thoughts that twisted through his mind like barbed wire, he couldn't fail to appreciate the rare times Spirit cast aside his outrageous behavior to reveal a far more serious nature.

Probably one of the reasons Stein had enjoyed cutting into him so much. It had become an obsession the first time he'd glimpsed the steel lurking behind warm green eyes. Stein had seen the blade that Spirit would become. Bright and sharp, slicing through flesh and stone with no hesitation, with a speed so great as to steal away any pain the blow would have brought. Merciless compassion wrapped in smiles and crying fits that had left Stein baffled even as he hungered for more.

The desire to see beneath the flesh had consumed him. Night after night he would slice into soft skin, searching, always searching for the strength that reflected the strong curve of a scythe.

Stein's eyes slid closed as the Kishin Madness seized those memories, giving them depth and substance until he could smell the copper sweetness of blood, feel Spirit's warm skin beneath his hand as he guided the scalpel. He closed his eyes but that didn't stop him from seeing the way blood gathered as the flesh yielded beneath a razor sharp point.

"Friends." Stein's voice was rough, with desire or fear even he couldn't say. "Yes, I do believe we are friends." Friends did not slice through the skin in order to explore the vulnerable insides it protected. They did not feel the other's strength like a siren call and hunger to explore how far it could be pressed before splintering beneath the strain.

"You haven't been the same since our fight with Medusa."

True. The conniving little bitch had managed to sink her fangs deep before the death blow. An old adage about snakes came to mind, about how the head was still dangerous once cut away from the body. Whether it was something she did, or if it was just the Kishin Madness that had swamped the air, Stein had felt his steady slide towards insanity.

"Death has spoken to you." Not a question. Death may have been nothing more than a white skull cloaked in shadow, but Stein had spent a lifetime reading the nuances that even shadow could not conceal.

"He is worried about you. So am I."

"I told him that I will handle it." Determination backed not by confidence, but by desperation. Sometimes he could almost feel clawed hands pulling him further and further into shadows edged with blood, three eyes watching him with malevolent expectation.

"I know you're slipping." It was not laughter he saw dancing in bright green eyes, but bright light reflecting off shining steel. "Do you think I can't feel the darkness that is eating you from the inside out?" Spirit pressed a hand against his chest, fingers clenching in the olive green shirt he never seemed to be without.

"I have always been mad, Senpai." Memory enhanced by madness allowed him to relive the quick spasm as relaxed muscles protested the scalpel's intrusion. Even asleep, Spirit had been so trusting.

"Not like this. You need to fight it, Stein. We can't afford to lose you."

Stein took a quick drag on his cigarette as memory and reality merged, bringing with it the copper tang of spilled blood. "You assume fighting would change anything." Something chuckled, twisted darkness that gleamed with a three-eyed gaze the color of old blood. Memories twisted by madness pressed against the back of his eyes; harsh lights illuminating pale flesh, skin parting beneath the razor edge of his scalpel. "Maybe I'm already lost."

"Don't say that, Stein!"

Stein's eyes burned in his sockets, his joints stiff as he surged to his feet. His lips stretched into a macabre smile, the skin tight as it struggled to conform to the unnatural position. "Truth is pain, Spirit. I take delight in both."

Spirit didn't move as Stein stalked towards him. A fool that clung to hope even as it frayed between his fingers. Stein didn't stop until their bodies were flush, and the desire to touch lifted his hands. At one point he would have checked the impulse, but now all was shattered needs and melted rainbows out of the corner of his eye.

"I never found it you know." Stein pressed a hand against Spirit's heart, felt the strong rhythm that never faltered. Such strength, steel hidden in a sheath of flesh and blood.

"Found what?" Spirit's voice had faded to a dull whisper, eyes wide. Still no fear, but now there was wariness.

"I never found what made you strong."

Wariness faded, replaced with solemn warmth that fought to banish the icy touch of madness. "There are some things you can't dissect, Stein."

"Maybe I just didn't look in the right place."

Exasperated amusement rather than the thrill of fear he'd expected. "Maybe you didn't."

Blinking, Stein stepped back, shoving his hands in his pockets to conceal how badly they shook. There was something foreign in Spirit's eyes as he watched him, something that made his chest ache and his palms sweat.

Spirit's lack of fear loosened the Kishin's hold on his mind, allowing the madness to slip away for the time being. He could still feel it waiting in the wings, hungry for the last few pieces it had yet to devour. It would get them in time, Stein knew, until all that was left were the carefully hoarded pieces of self.

"Don't waste your concern on me, Spirit. I'll do what needs to be done." Even as he said it he wondered if he would have the strength to see it through. His will was crumbling fast beneath his feet, and it was only a matter of time before he'd start to fall.

"I have faith in you, Stein." Spirit smiled, red hair falling into his eyes.

Chest tight, Stein considered the warmth he found in Spirit's gaze before shrugging it away. "Of course you do." He stalked back to his computer, shaky and confused. "Now that you've shared your concerns you should probably go check in on Maka."

The strange warmth in Spirit's eyes vanished, replaced by manic worry that had the man humming with suppressed tension. "Why? What's happened to her?"

Stein dropped into his chair, and this time the smile that stretched across his mouth didn't feel out of place. "Oh nothing, it's just been half an hour since the last time you checked on her. Almost a record for you isn't it?"

The ensuing hysterics were a relief, if only because this Spirit wasn't watching him with warm eyes and a small smile. Something to consider during the night once the bloody nightmares had driven him from sleep.

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A/N: And there you have it, my first foray into the dark, twisted mind of Stein. In spite of the walls dripping blood and the crazy fascination for cutting people open, I think I could lean to like it. ^-^

Read and Review!


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